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Comments Happy Friday, everyone! It's time for another round of comments.

Anxious for sleep in an intensive care ward, a German teenager unplugged the funny, beeping machine that his immediate neighbour didn't seem to be using for much. It was a pity that it happened to be the patient's life support system, but heroic hospital staff were soon on the scene to avert catastrophe.

Sounds like a variation of the old "Cleaning Lady Unplugs ICU Machines" legend.

In this version of the story, staff were alerted in time, which could mean that it is actually true, or it could mean that the tale-fabricator is just more sophisticated than the usual tall-tale-teller.

(Life support machines would surely have battery-powered alarms that sound off if power is interrupted, which is why the original legend is clearly male bovine excrement.)

Stuart Van Onselen

Not really life threatening as all critical systems have battery backup and go PING PING PING when unplugged (further reducing the 17 year olds chance of sleep).

I know it sounds just like the urban legend referred to earlier but in my first job I really did have a problem with a server that crashed at around 5pm every Friday, which turned out to be when the cleaner came in and unplugged it to plug in the vacuum cleaner. Mind you, it didn't need a UPS with alarm to resolve, just a sticky note on the plug asking that another socket was used.

Mind you, this was the same client who called in a fault with a printer not working when it had been unplugged and they hadn't thought to check...

Maybe he saw a large machine wasting electricity keeping some rotting flesh warm and decided he'd do his bit for the environment and turn it off, global warming is a serious issue and must be tackled what ever the cost :)

Yes its a sick tongue in cheek joke but i don't really care :)

Michael Compton

Your sick jokes are not welcome here, Michael. Keep 'em coming.

As someone who has on recent occasion, had to spend time in a hospital, this scare's the hell out of me. Intensive care is there for those who have a chance of recovery for serious injury or surgery in isolation (The stink of piss is reduced, and the chances of being anywhere near a nut-job is nil).

Having also spent time in an ICU ward, I can tell you that all the important machinery is linked to a switchboard in the nurses area, so it can all be monitored. After waking up from a rather intensive round of surgery, I accidentally ripped of the monitoring cords on my chest. The rather eager junior doctor was going to fry me with the paddles, until the head nurse calmed him down, and re-attached the cords.

Back to the german brat, his punishment should be sevear and fitting... having the honour of mucking out the sewers in the city. Millions of tons of germans, making millions of tons of shite, millions of gallons of piss, and thats before the octoberfest begins. His tools: A toothbrush, a wallpaper scraper, a pair of overalls, and a bag to be sick in (German thinking).